「別れの朝」 (Wakare no Asa)
“Morning of Parting”

Episode at a Glance:
With Miharu’s Shinrabanshou powers released, he easily brushes aside the Kouga student council, then checks on Yoite, during which he hears the hijutsu’s voice asking him if he’s going to make him disappear or save him first. Kumohira then intervenes, shoving Miharu’s head to the ground and telling him he mustn’t use it, but Miharu knocks him away, saying that his teacher is only concerned about his unbending beliefs and not him. Crawling back over Yoite’s body, Miharu begins using his power to heal Yoite’s wound, but Kumohira interferes again, and even tries to dispel Miharu’s techinque. (God damn Kumohira…) With no interest in his intentions, Miharu looks up with a face full of scriptures, and the Shinrabanshou tells the insistent teacher that he’s in the way, so Kumohira punches Mihara, knocking him out and relinquishing his power. During this time, the Shinrabanshou tells Miharu that he’s simply lost right now, and that it’s the only thing preventing him from controling the godly wisdom.

Holding the student council at gunpoint, Yukimi asks if they were invited here as part of Kannuki’s plan to make them all ingredients for the Daya. Taken advantage of their squabbles, Kannuki appears to taunt them, before locking them all in the room. While Raimei, Raikou, and Yukimi try to break the door down, Subaru tells them it’s useless, and Juuji treats Miharu’s injures. (I swear there were windows on the sides, but anyway…) Raimei then asks Kumohira where Kouichi is, rendering him speechless, but Raikou tells her that he’s probably dead after being shot by Kannuki. Yukimi then tells Miharu not to worry about Yoite since he won’t die so easily, while Subaru worries about what’ll happen to the school director.

Elsewhere in the school, Kannuki is trying to get the Daya scroll from Sirius, who tells him he’s better off shooting him instead. After being threatening using his precious students and told how all the others here feel about the Shinrabanshou being around, Sirius says that the Daya kinjutsusho has already been entrusted to someone else, along with his will. Angered, Kannuki fires at Sirius’ arm, but he retorts if Alya Academy is really becoming old and there is no future for the children, then the Kouga village should end with him. Hearing this, Kannuki tells his men to start killing the kids in the basement one-by-one, when suddenly Kouichi comes through the door with a devious smile on his face and cat-like red eyes. While Kannuki is shocked that he’s still alive, all his men open fire on Kouichi, but their bullets are unable to kill him, so he quickly dispatches everyone in the room, including Kannuki. Seeing his white hair and supposedly immortality, Sirius suspects that Kouichi’s is related to “her”, but Kouichi simply tells the school director to rest at ease as the night’s almost over.

Back in the basement, Kouichi opens the door for the others, sparking Shijima to comment on how he’s late. Thinking to herself later, Shijima believes that “an important person” is simply different to many people, thus leading to opposition and people killing one another. Also, it doesn’t matter whether one feels an opponent’s important person is such, or if he/she is even still alive. For now though, Shijima feels she’s found out what she wanted to know. Tending to Sirius, Juuji says they have to get him to a hospital immediately, but the school director claims that it’s fine, as he’s finished everything he had to do. When Subaru asks for the forbidden scroll/book, Sirius explains it’s no longer with him and that he’s entrusted everything to someone else. Reminded of her past with the school director, Subaru questions why he didn’t entrust it to her when she’s trying to save him, and grabs Juuji as a hostage out of frustration. Yukimi then fires his gun at Subaru’s kunai, and Catalina slaps her, saying that they’re the ones making the school director suffer the most. Claiming that their efforts to save him are more precious to him than immortality, Sirius asks his students to let him die as a person. Recognizing Miharu as the Shinrabanshou, he apologizes for getting him involved, and despite being burdened with such a painful mission, asks that he be true to his heart.

The next morning, students grieve over their director. Outside the building, Shijima explains that she was designated as a temporary successor of the kinjutsusho, and that as part of Sirius’ will, Alya Academy is to 1.) relinquish ownership of the Daya kinjutsusho, 2.) select a successor to the forbidden technique in the Nabari world using her judgement, and 3.) abolish specialized classes for Kouga ninjas once a new school director is elected, while prioritizing the interests of students at the school. She then decides to entrust the Daya to Miharu, as she’s personally interested in how he’ll change the Nabari world with his intentions. It turns out that Sirius was aware of all the unrest and turmoil amongst students and teachers, and this was a way to restore order to school. Yukimi realizes this, as they wouldn’t have been invited here otherwise, which surprises Shijima that he’s not an idiot after all (although Raikou begs to differ). All this prompts Shijima to think how “his” prediction was right after all, that he even went so far to send a messenger here, reminding Kumohira of something Kotarou said.

As she excuses herself, Yukimi asks who she is, but she simply replies that she’s Kurookana Shijima—just an observer. Miharu asks her if she knows anything about the hijutsu, but she simply says she knows that she doesn’t know. Miharu then leaves with the other Kairoushuu, saying that they’ll get Banten’s kinjutsusho in no time, but Kumohira tells him that he can’t save anyone with the Shinrabanshou powers, and if he uses it, he’ll never forgive him. Hearing this, Miharu simply covers his ears and keeps walking.

 

Next Episode:
「遠来の客」 (Enrai no Kyaku)
“Distant Visitor”

Impressions:
Given the length of the summary, it should go to show the amount of explanatory dialogue I had to muddle through this episode. I actually had to stop on a few occasions because I was getting a bit tired of translating, which is why this post is out much later than I would’ve liked. In any case, Miharu showed some brief flashes of Shinrabanshou power, but the meddlesome Kumohira interfered yet again. I was actually pretty annoyed that he was preventing Miharu from trying to save Yoite, especially when he just got Kouichi (supposedly) killed earlier. In light of this, it was actually relieving to hear Miharu tell Kumohira not to touch him, and knock away for a moment. Aside from Miharu’s display of the ultimate power, the big revelation this episode was undoubtedly Kouichi’s apparent immortality, but more on that has yet to be explained. As Siruis noticed, there appears to be some connection between him and “her”, which given the white hair, is most likely Shijima. Evidently, there’s much more to her than appears, more of which should be explained in the next episode.

While going through this episode, I did cross-reference the mangas that I bought (which is also why I have the Shijima hunch above), and was a bit surprised to see that this episode pretty much concluded all of volume seven. Given how only eight volumes are currently out, and how this episode alone finished three-quarters of volume seven, it seems like the anime is rushing along for some reason or another. I suspect that the producers realize that they’re going to run out of manga material sooner or later, so rather than leaving only a few episodes for an anime original conclusion, they’ve decided to speed through the manga material. While purists will argue that this isn’t the best approach, I made brief mention of some possible drawbacks of strictly following an unfinished manga in my SEKIREI post.

As a general rule of thumb, I like to treat mangas and anime adaptations separately, but I should use this opportunity (seeing as I’m in a position to do so) to mention how the anime adaptation of this Kouga arc completely left out a character named Ashikawa Tasuku, who’s another student at Alya Academy. While I haven’t read the manga thoroughly yet (nor do I plan to while the anime is still airing), I noticed that Tasuku’s role was fairly significant, but the anime adaptation retained the same outcome even without him. What was also left out though, was the history between Subaru and the school director, which would’ve explained why she was willing to do anything to save him. Since it’s uncertain how much of a role the Kouga ninjas will play down the road (seeing as the manga hasn’t gone that far yet), I can understand why the producers left this part out. In retrospect, it would have just extended the number of episodes required for this arc, and will probably never be alluded to again.

Next time, hopefully more of Shijima as I love hearing Shindou Kei‘s voice (Wang Liu Mei in Gundam 00, Kagami Kuro in Kodomo no Jikan), Yoite‘s condition, as well as the next stage of the story.

Addendum: I believe volume nine of the manga has been released. I didn’t see it when I was in Japan though, so I didn’t pick it up. =(

 

Cast:
– Rokujou Miharu (六条 壬晴) / Kugimiya Rie (釘宮 理恵)
– Kumohira Thobari Durandal (雲平・帷・デュランダル) / Namikawa Daisuke (浪川 大輔)
– Aizawa Kouichi (相澤 虹一) / Hino Satoshi (日野 聡)
– Shimizu Raimei (清水 雷鳴) / Fujimura Ayumi (藤村 歩)
– Yukimi Kazuhiko (雪見 和彦) / Tsuda Kenjirou (津田 健次郎)
– Minami Juuji (南 十字) / Koyama Kimiko (こやま きみこ)
– Shinrabanshou (森羅万象) / Tamura Yukari (田村 ゆかり)
– Kurookano Shijima (黒岡野 しじま) / Shindou Kei (真堂 圭)
– Fushita Subaru (伏田 すばる) / Kawakami Tomoko (川上 とも子)
– Toudou Catalina (藤堂 カタリナ) / Nabatame Hitomi (生天目 仁美)
– Shimizu Raikou (清水 雷光) / Suwabe Junichi (諏訪部 順一)
– Kannuki (閂) / Fujiwara Keiji (藤原 啓治)
– Sirius Hashiba (シリウス・ハシバ) / Kiyokawa Motomu (清川 元夢)
– Teacher (教師) / Oohara Takashi (大原 崇)
– Teacher (教師) / Ogino Seirou (荻野 晴朗)

37 Comments

  1. I really hoped for some violence directed at Kumohira, since he’s gotten rather annoying lately. Alas, no fun- he emerged completely unscathed (quite unlike pretty much every other of his allies). Well if he keeps on preventing Miharu from helping Yoite then he’ll die along with him anyway so he’ll have to revise his goals eventually. That or we’ll get one of the rare “everyone dies” endings.

    Void
  2. Getting kinda tired of the show, still waiting for Miharu to finally confront and take control of Shinrabanshou (whom by the way rocks, love her voice, her VA is quite befitting).

    X
  3. @Fire Candy:
    The anime is slated for 26 episodes, so we’re just over halfway through it. Like I mentioned in my post above though, there’s only one volume left in the manga (that’s currently released).

  4. quick question, they keep saying that Yoite is going to die soon, are we talking weeks, months, or years here? Also am i the only one who think Yoite deserved to die? He keep saying he want his existence erased, and yet is afraid to die? So he want Miharu to kill him. That is just like someone who want to die but don’t want to keep suicide because suicide is a sin and you will go straight to hell. But don’t he feel any remorse for the people he killed? I bet those people didn’t want to die either, so why should we feel remorse for Yoite not wanting to die when he kills mercilessly and now suddenly develop a heart just before his time of death. That don’t excuse his murders or the fact that he tried to kill Miharu and Kimohura and that blonde girl and that 4 eyes immortal guy at that village earlier. Why am i the only one treating him as a murderer while so many feel sorry that he will die soon? He sold his soul when he read that Kira forbidden move, and now he is going to pay for it. That sounds fair. It is like someone committing murder and then thinking he shouldn’t have to go jail for it. Yoite, you may look hot, but you are still a bad guy, and your recent change of heart don’t excuse you from your past crimes. You did the crime ,so now you have to pay the price of death. I for once, will not be satisfied until Yoite get punished one way or another for his unspeakable killing way. Plus, HE IS BLACKMAILING MIHARU WITH THAT LIFE FRAGMENTS INSIDE MIHARU’S FRIENDS. SO why is it that everyone think he is a nice guy? he works for the bad guy, he kills with no remorse, he is blackmailing the only nice guy in the show, and he is a coward who don’t want to die. that to me, is why i hate Yoite, and if he want to be erase from existence so bad, don’t worry, that will happen eventually when his lifeforce is suck dry by Kira. So why bother to blackmail Miharu for? Yoite, you are going to die anyway, just wait, you don’t need Miharu to hasten the process of wiping your evil butt from existence. I hope i am not the only one who think that Yoite is evil. There is no such thing as a good person that does those kind of things.

    xdotx
  5. Ummm… They left out the manga scene between Shijima & Kouichi at the end of this arc. Hopefully, they might use it at the start of next ep thought.

    Or may be they are planning to use it later in relation to the anime ending

    Kaitune
  6. @xdotx
    It’s a ninja anime. Trying to force real-world morality onto a ninja anime is plain silly. All the characters are killers. Except maybe Juuji, but she’s only 12; give her time. Your logic is sound in real life, but we’re talking about middle-schoolers with mystical ninja powers. Just like the laws of physics, morality is taking a back seat to the ZOMGNINJAPOWAAAAH!!!1. Most people don’t care about the moral implications of the characters’ actions, nor should they, necessarily. It’s a cartoon. Enjoy or do not, but don’t spend too much time considering the morality of what they do.

    Besides, psychopathic killers are sometimes the most fun characters, anyways. Not sayin’ I’d marry one, but they make for good TV.

    Yolie
  7. @xdotx:
    Just my theory, but guess I will try to explain it to you: erasing one’s existence doesn’t mean dying. If Yoite dies, he just dies and the people he killed will still remain dead. But if he chooses to erase himself, it will remove every trace which points to the existence of a human named Yoite. By “evidence of existence”, it includes the murders Yoite’s been commissioned to – that would either restore all the lives he’s ended, or erase their previous existences altogether, which would spare any living ones most emotionally affected by their death the sorrow of loss. Such a wish is what people plagued by guilt, but cannot do anything about it (that’s Kairoushuu’s order, what do you expect ?), would have – aboslutely not what is normally found in people who kill other people without remorse, I tell you.

    ZOL
  8. @Kaitune:
    That’s actually what I was alluding to with the following line:
    “Evidently, there’s much more to her than appears, more of which should be explained in the next episode.”

    I’m suspecting we’ll see that next time though.

  9. I’m beginning to dislike Thobari more and more but I feel he knows something of Miharu’s past that he isn’t revealing yet judging by the way he’s been behaving towards Miharu. I’m guessing Kouichi and Shijima are somewhat related.

    Browniekat
  10. Ofcourse Thobari knows something if you go back to the begining of first episode you’ll see a younger verison of him is running through a forest with a younger boy (supposedly miharu)

    Tiggi
  11. while trying to erase his existence to save the people he killed is a noble one, the things he is doing to achieve that goal is questionable. He basically linked the lives of the 3 friends of Miharu to his and if he dies, and don’t achieve his goal, they all died too. So you have to consider when he fails and not only will the people he killed remains dead, 3 more lives will be taken as well.

    xdotx
  12. he did linked up and he even cut off the link between him and Miharu as a sign of good faith and proof that he is telling the truth about the linking up part. That Yoite has to be stopped. I considered him to be the worst kind of evil, the kind that take the lives of good people in the event of his death.

    xdotx
  13. Maybe it’s just my memory, but I suddenly recall that last week Shijima said something along the lines of “ittai, naa~~~” before kicking yoite’s ass a bit. Didn’t Kouichi dispatch of the mod squad with the same line?

    Just a little further evidence for those of us who aren’t reading ahead from the manga for once in her life… I mean their.

    SB
  14. @xdotx: if you are gonna ever feel the suspense in the next eps diminished by this spoiler, remember that it was your fault for forcing me to reveal this in the first place
    [spoiler]
    Yoite never left any Kira fragment in the Banten guys’ bodies, he just said that to make sure Miharu go along with his plan
    [/spoiler]

    ZOL
  15. Nobody’s confirmed as being homosexual. Until Miharu and Yoite make out on-screen or start going at it like rabbits, everything is just fangirl speculation. Besides, I think Gau is 10x gayer than either Yoite or Miharu.

    Yolie
  16. @Divine
    Miharu asked Shijima if she knew anything about Shinrababshou, and she said that, she knew the fact that she knew nothing about it.

    I have no idea if she was telling the truth or just playing poker with him, though.

    calde
  17. @calde:
    Given how the subject is always implied contextually in Japanese, I interpreted, 「知らないということ知ってる。」, as “(Miharu wa) shiranai to iu koto shitteru”, but in retrospect, I guess the more obvious reference is herself. I’ve updated the summary to reflect this.

  18. Thanks for the post 🙂 much oblidged!
    Yeah I really cant wait for the next episode, but I hope Kouichi’s explanation doesn’t go on for too long, I prefer the series focusing on Miharu and Yoite’s relationship…
    ^-^ yeh yeh typical girly girl taste. Hmmmm I don’t see how the 26 episodes would work though, because the volumes are nearly up, so the anime producers must have to make it up as they go along later in the series…uh oh not good.

    Winter~Rose
  19. xdotx i know this is a late answer but still…there is no such thing as good or bad only when u think of it….and havent u ever done something wrong…i mean not killed but lie or something.Usally they could make chains and tangle with each other.Even so yes yoite has murdered but u dont know his whole side of the story. so no one should really be speaking…yes and neither should i…thats all

    loveless2008
  20. This is weird! None of them in this episode questioned Kouichi’s survival. “Hey Kouichi you got shot in the back and your clothes are full of holes. How the heck did you survive?” They should at least let Kouichi tell the truth to them because it just makes the other characters look like fools!

    panaghoy88

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